UNEXPECTED
PLEASURES
(Rajasthani
Ramblings Part 4)
Travel
Tales Index - Rajasthani Ramblings Index - India
Pix
After
seeing the camel festival in
As
we were leaving, we ran across the English couple we first met in Fatehpur and
they suggested we meet for dinner. I
think when we first talked, Lois was a little down on
Our
last two adventures in
The
second animal encounter was the Camel Research and
One
of the nice aspects of
From
As
we got close to Jaisalmer, the first thing that came into view was the fort
(various parts built 1156-1700). It was
on a hill well above the surrounding town.
The base of the fort was probably seventy five feet above the town and
it towered over it. The wonderful thing about Jaisalmer was that you could
actually stay inside the fort. All the buildings, including our guesthouse,
were of stone with walls on the order of one foot thick. The area inside the fort was not huge, maybe
600' x 600', but it was a labyrinth of alleyways with only pedestrian (and
animal) traffic. As soon as we walked
into the fort, we felt like our stay was going to be fantastic - and it was.
Relatively hassle free, not too much traffic
outside the fort, none in the fort and lots of rooftop restaurants with great
views of either the city or the fort, depending on their location.
The
havelis were all carved sandstone, not painted, so they withstood the test of
time much better. We just wandered the
narrow streets and came across haveli after haveli. We even saw a few new ones
being built. The havelis were made like legos with interlocking pieces similar
to a mortise-and-tenon construction. Some of the flowers and other parts were
held in place by a twist and lock mechanism.
The owner of one haveli told us this was useful in past times since
during an attack the haveli could be slowly disassembled and the pieces thrown
at the attackers!
In addition
to the havelis there was a complex of seven Jain temples from the 12th-15th
century within the fort. They were in a
great state of preservation and had wonderfully carved sandstone and marble
with many fine Buddhas. The one annoyance while walking through the temples
(and typical of
Apparently,
this was a very popular time for weddings.
We were walking around in the market and came across a wedding party
with the groom being led around town on horseback. There was a band leading the way and people
dancing and partying as they made their way through the town. A wedding here takes a number of days, with
celebrating at the groom’s family's house, the bride's family's house and
finally, a big reception after the actual ceremony.
We
intended to go on a camel safari in the desert for 3 or 4 days but after hearing
very mixed reviews from people and finding very few people who really enjoyed
it, we decided not to go. We would hate
to start out on a safari only to decide after riding a camel for 2 hours that
we couldn't stand it and wanted to go back (and you all thought we were
adventurous!).
From
Jaisalmer, we headed to Barmer which our guidebooks indicated had very little
tourism but was a center for hand block printed fabric. The ride was initially through desert and
sand dunes, then changing to slightly grassy fields. At one stop a number of
women got on the bus with a lot of white metal and silver jewelry on. They had camel bone or white metal bracelets
going up their entire arm, lots of jewelry around the neck and ankles and a few
had medallions standing up on their heads like an old fashioned doctors
reflecting mirror. They gawked at us, we gawked at them. I would have loved to
have taken photos of them, but I don't feel comfortable taking pictures of
people like they are animals in a zoo.
Walking
around Barmer was a shock to the system - a very positive one - no touts, no
rickshaw drivers chasing us and reasonably clean streets. People were mostly interested in knowing
where we were from or having us respond to their friendly calls of
"hello". We looked at block
printed sheets in one store and Lois saw nothing she liked but asked the prices
just for reference. The owner told us how much he charges for various sized
sheets and the max price we should pay for each size. At another store we took a quick look, saw
they didn't have what we wanted and as we were leaving, the owner asked our
names, told us his and then said
"goodbye" - no pressure to buy, just happy to know our names
and shake our hands. At the third shop,
we found something we liked and said we would think about it. As we walked out, the shopkeeper told us,
"go straight and there are more shops to look at". All of these were very atypical responses in
the parts of
While
Lois & I were walking around, we saw two young women in a second floor
window and one of them invited us to come up.
So, we walked into the house and upstairs where we met Neelam (20 yr
old) and her parents and four younger brothers.
They were grinding cooked yellow lentils using what was basically a hand
operated gristmill with a fixed stone and a rotating stone. Once we had met the
whole family and been offered a little chai and a snack, they asked if we
wanted to come to dinner that evening. We agreed and then spent the rest of the
day walking around Barmer. We returned
at 8:00 to a very warm reception and had dinner there, but with only the father
eating with us. Tradition had the rest of the family eating after the guests and
father were done.
The
father had a mining business and earns about $5,000 a year (per capita income
is about $350/year). He was very curious
about costs in the